Scott Machado was looking to cleanse himself.
The former Iona point guard had hoped to hear his name called at the NBA Draft on Thursady. Instead, he was bypassed, mere months after leading the nation in assists. He returned to the court this weekend at the Hoops in the Sun streetball league at Orchard Beach in The Bronx on Sunday to forget about that disappointment.
“You come back to a tournament like this so you can get your confidence back,” Machado said.
He got that and little bit more after his buzzer-beating 3-pointer banked in off the glass to give the Rosedale Trailblazers a thrilling 85-83 win over the Silva All Stars. Machado, who was inbounding the ball under the basket, took a handoff in close courters deep along the right side, rose and fired over three defenders.
“I told my teammates pass the ball back because I wanted to take the last shot,” the Queens native said. “‘Let me see the ball. I’m going to make the last shot.’ You can ask any one of them.”
It was the cap to his 18-point performance as he helped bail out teammate and friend Haron (H20) Hargrave, who previously missed a key technical free throw with Rosedale down a point. A few possessions earlier, Machado hit a circus layup on the left side that spun up on the top of the backboard and found its way in the hoop to give his team an 82-81 lead. Kyle Hunt led Rosedale with 30 points.
“That was supposed to just hit the backboard and go in,” he said. “The wind out here blesses me sometimes.”
The performance comes on the heels of the 6-foot-2 Machado getting his possible NBA career off the ground. He said multiple teams have contacted him, such as the Bobcats, Raptors, Cavaliers, Hawks and Rockets, according to sources — and he already has a summer league destination, but cannot reveal it until Tuesday.
“I’ll be going somewhere good, though,” Machado said. “It makes everything feel a lot better.”
Those close to him were surprised by Machado being snubbed on draft day. Hoops in the Sun announcer Uncle G-Stacks said over the mic that, “The NBA made a mistake the other night” and that he was going to “call David Stern right now.” Hargrave, who has known Machado since he was high school, said it felt like he wasn’t drafted that night.
“Whatever team gets him is getting a diamond in the rough,” Hargrave said. “A lot of teams passed up on him. I know that’s going to be fuel for him. He is going to play big.”